Over 500 representatives of youth organizations assembled near the European Union representation in Moscow on Saturday to pray for Georgia to stop aggression against South Ossetia…According to the organizers, Orthodox youth in Moscow will continue praying for peace in the Caucasus in front of the European Union representation office for the next days.

One of the “youth organisations” mentioned is Nashi, which has been described as the “Putin Youth” for its nationalist indoctrination camps. Usually when its members are hanging around a foreign building in Moscow the purpose is intimidation rather than pious supplication to God; back in December 2006 the Telegraphnoted:

Even the British ambassador in Moscow is not exempt from the fear and intimidation that are a constant part of attempting to do business in the country. Yesterday, the Foreign Office was forced to make an official complaint to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs over the treatment of the ambassador, Tony Brenton. For four months he has been the target of intimidation by Nashi, a Right-wing youth movement linked to the Kremlin. The group has trailed and heckled the envoy, picketing the embassy and triggering a violent incident outside his residence in September. So serious has been the harassment that there are now fears for the ambassador’s safety.

I blogged on Nashi here; just last month it was reported that the movement had “run out of steam” and was “listless”.

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Note on Attacks

Anyone who comments on current affairs on-line risks being smeared by attack sites and/or abusive Tweets. This is particularly so if one chooses to challenge dishonesty or other kinds of reprehensible behaviour.

As a result of making a stand in a few particular instances, I have become the focus of a number of such attacks. Those who have targeted me include: a Nigerian evangelist who believes in “child witches”; former activists with the EDL; a man with a long history of bad debt and grandiosity; a sockpuppeting tabloid journalist; and a self-serving “celebrity” MP who deploys smears to discourage scrutiny.

The bad faith of such sites and Tweets ought to be self-evident. However, any readers interested in the true background can read this and this.